


but under the sun I'm hunted just like you

by Neverander



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 09:05:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4257534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverander/pseuds/Neverander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back in season one when LaF first went missing and we hadn't seen Danny for a while the fandom thought something might have happened to Danny. This is pretty much exploring what might have happened if Danny really had been the one to go missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	but under the sun I'm hunted just like you

Danny awoke with a groan. Her limbs weren't quite responding and she could just feel damp concrete beneath her palms. 

Her head was killing her. Her hand came away from her face sticky and wet. This did not bode well. 

As she moved to sit up; all her muscles ached and hot pain shot down her leg. There was a bloody gash running from mid-thigh to her knee--which explained why she couldn't seem to move it at the moment. 

With more effort than she thought she had, Danny dragged herself back to the brick wall behind her to prop herself up against it. 

She would probably throw up right about now if she had more energy. The room was spinning and, it being a circular room to begin with, the motion really didn't help matters. The only windows were stories above her head. It was all very damsel in distress, but Danny was too tired to even register distress over it. 

"Well look who's finally awake."

Danny raised her head to find the Dean standing on the opposite side of the room. Tall and imposing in a grey power suit, she appraised the young woman on the floor with the air of an auctioneer. "I hope you like the room. It's specially designed for times like these."

Considering this room had no doors Danny could see why.  
"It's fantastic." her voice was hoarse and lacked any actual bite. She just sounded tired. She was tired. Honestly Danny thought she might pass out again. 

The dean smiled, her white teeth glinting in the moonlight, the only light in the room. All of her teeth looked jagged and sharp but Danny just couldn't bring herself to care in this moment. "This isn't how you took the other girls."

"Of course not. They're fodder." The dean was suddenly kneeling beside her. "You are the main event."

She reached out and laid a hand on Danny's chest. The redhead made a weak grab at her wrist but it was like living marble. She could feel her heart thumping under the dean’s palm as nails slowly pierced her chest. 

She winced and the hand withdrew. The dean was back where she started before Danny had fully registered the movement. 

"I can't wait to take your heart. " 

And then, she was gone.

 

LaF was back, which was a huge relief, admittedly. But also hugely concerning, considering they did not seem to recall being taken which wasn't like the other disappearances. 

"No, really, guys I've been in the lab! I wasn't missing. I'm not missing. " They stole a glance at Perry who released them, planting her hands on her hips. 

"Then why was there a note going on about kidnapping and our room a disaster. Explain that!" Perry was clearly flustered. 

LaF winced and rubbed the back of their neck self-consciously. "Well I may have done that to the room. I was upset and I didn't want to take it out on…anyone." They glanced at Perry. "Then I headed to the lab. That's where I've been. I'm sorry. It's not me."

Laura glanced between LaF and Perry; then Carmilla with a sudden sense of dread. Carmilla’s eyes narrowed and Laura finally asked "Has anyone seen Danny since the mushroom attack?" She was pretty sure of the answer already but maybe…

But of course no one had seen Danny since the attack--and really why would they? Laura asked for space and LaF went missing and there was just no time really. 

"I'm going to check the Summer Society." Carmilla stood from her bed. 

"What? Really?"

"Well if you want to even attempt to stop mother we better know how many people she actually has." She was nonchalant but somehow the tone didn't come off sincere, and with that she vanished. 

It was difficult to express the amount of guilt that Laura was already feeling with LaF missing. But now Danny was missing too and Laura hadn't noticed. How could she have not thought to warn Danny? She had warned Kirsch. She should have warned everyone involved with these videos.

Carmilla’s sudden return cut into her internal guilt spiral. 

"Bad news and really bad news."  
The three simply stared at the vampire, waiting for her to continue. 

"Well okay then. Bad news: Danny is missing. Really bad news: she was apparently taken along with two other Summer members in what appears to be a pretty intense struggle in the woods where they had been training."

Laura thought for a few moments about the implications of two more girls missing along with Danny. "That would replace Sarah Jane and...me." She looked up at Carmilla, "is that it? Are these all the girls she needs?"

Carmilla met her gaze evenly and nodded. 

"Then we're too late" LaFontaine chimed from the doorway, "the dean has everyone she needs and we're too late. We can't be too late. This can't be it."  
Carmilla looked at them with a mask of apathy, but Laura could read her better than that: she could see the anger and regret under the surface. 

"No. No, we can do this.” Laura looked at Perry. "As the floor Don there must be forbidden places that you have to inform people about right? Let's make a list." Laura glanced at Carmilla. "They must be on campus right? When you took girls you didn't leave."

"I didn't leave but I don't know where mother takes them. I never have."

Perry considered for a moment. "Well there's the basement of the Zeta house, the basement of the library, the old clock tower which has been forbidden for decades, oh and one of the old res halls was condemned but never torn down."

Laura nodded. "Okay so let's grab the Summer Society girls and we'll split up and search until we find them."

Carmilla just looked at her with one raised eyebrow. "That's the plan? We're going to traipse around campus with a bunch of armed children into forbidden sectors in the hopes that we stumble upon my mother’s place of operation? And what will we do when we find her, sunshine? I don't know if you've noticed from the half a dozen times I've mentioned it but I can't take on my mother, so you sure as hell can't. I don't care how many toddlers you bring along--it won't be enough."

Laura could feel her pulse rising. "Well we can't just do nothing!" She looked to LaF for support. They nodded and moved out of Perry’s reach. "I'm going to grab my bat."

"Hold on! Let's just consider this for a moment longer-" Perry was flailing at the suddenness of this “plan”.  
"Perry, we don't have time. This is it. The dean has everyone she needs we have to move now." LaF left the room with Perry trailing after them reluctantly. 

"Carmilla tell the Summer Society the plan. Split them up to cover the basements and the old res hall. We'll take the clock tower, meet us there."

"When did I become the messenger for this suicide brigade?"

"I don't know Carmilla, when would you guess you started to care? ‘Cause I'm thinking you've been in it for a while now."

She scoffed. "We aren't going to win, cutie. This isn't a game. This isn't one of your little shows. You can't come back from this. "

"Go tell the Society, Carmilla and meet me at the clock tower. I'm going with or without you. I'd rather go with you there." Laura turned to the camera as Carmilla disappeared once again. "Stay safe everyone. We're coming for you."

For the first time in months the screen went black.

 

Danny was standing…which was a huge improvement over the past few hours. 

During said time she vividly remembered being ambushed in the woods with Amber and Sameen. Both of whom were of course not with her and the guilt was slowly eating her alive. 

She was supposed to keep her girls safe. Getting herself captured was one thing but she should have got them away. There were just too many vampires. They were overwhelmed, and even with Danny's strength and rather extensive training they never stood a chance.

She moved slowly around the circumference of the room, pressing against the stones there. Some looked newer than the others, which would explain the complete lack of a door. Must be convenient for kidnappers to have the ability to place victims in rooms with no doors, not to mention making the kidnapping part ridiculously simple. 

So why were the girls taken, infected with parasites, released, and then taken again?

Danny had the brief moment of realization that she would probably never know. She’d just be dead for it. 

When the dean finally returned, Danny was feeling significantly better and she stood to her full height as the dean stalked towards her.  
“There’s that fire. I was beginning to worry.” The dean smiled, apparently her default expression to induce fear. Her eyes were cold and sharp. Her hand snaked out and caught Danny’s throat, tilting her head side to side. 

Danny glared up at her. It had honestly been a while since she had to look up to someone even though the difference was only slight; she didn’t like it. 

Danny’s hand struck out at the Dean’s elbow. Simultaneously, she snapped a kick at the dean’s knee. It was hardly as effective as it would have been on anyone else, but at least Danny was free to duck out of the dean’s grasp and spin along the wall with her arms raised in defense. She didn’t expect to win or escape by any means, but it felt wrong to do nothing. 

The dean chuckled to herself, the sound was harsh and echoed in the open space of the tower. “Oh I’m so glad. This is going to be a good year.” Her hands were on Danny’s shoulders, her voice whispering in her ear, “It’s time.”

Suddenly and very briefly everything was black, Danny couldn’t feel the floor or the wall or the Dean. Then she was standing, her equilibrium was shot, and had the dean not still been gripping her shoulders she was sure she would have fallen. She must have gasped because the Dean patted her shoulder, “It disorients everyone dear, don’t worry: you won’t be suffering long.” 

“Thanks. That’s a great comfort to me.” The room was flooded with moonlight streaming in through the large clock face. 

The Dean sighed and motioned with her hand and then Danny was being dragged by a couple of vampires (supervised by a gleeful Will) towards a stone altar. Apparently the Dean was a traditionalist when it came to these things. Danny was strapped down as the other girls were brought in and held in a circle around the altar. 

“You know the leaders of Summer Society are a special breed. Every, twenty years or so you get this nice cycle of reincarnation. Gods and goddesses get drawn in to Silas U and they join a society where they can hunt and fight and lead.” She circled the altar, moving closer to all the infected girls. Danny could just barely see Sameen from where she was and the fact that she was at least alive gave her a jolt of hope. 

“Of course drawing out the spirit of a reincarnated god takes a lot of juice--hence the fodder and all these accouterments. This year, though, it looks like I get the light of Artemis herself from you, Danny. Virgin goddess of the hunt, don’t you feel proud?” 

 

Well, it wasn’t really in Danny’s nature to panic, but it also wasn’t in her to do nothing, and, as it turns out, when you’re struggling uselessly against some really intense medieval manacles it could easily be perceived as panicking. Danny chose to ignore the Dean leaning over her looking oh-so-smug and focused instead on Sameen.

“Sameen! Sameen I need you to focus! Sameen!” The other girl’s face never changed from its dazed, faintly euphoric expression. Worth a shot. She pulled as hard as she could against the chains but they didn’t give at all. There was no room to build up momentum. She really shouldn’t be surprised; they’d been doing this for centuries. 

“Well if you’re quite done we’re going to begin.” The Dean strode towards Will, who was holding a large leather bound book. Christ, Danny was going to die a part of the biggest clichéd vampire rituals known to man. Unbelievable. She continued struggling as the Dean began reading from the book. Faint sounds in the distance caused the Dean to pause after a moment or so, however. She tilted her head and then motioned to Will and the other vampires gathered in the circle. “Go help them deal with that. I can handle it from here.”

Will placed the tome on the altar and left in a smog of black along with the rest of them. 

“Looks like your little friends came to see you off after all.”

There was a small amount of a hope and significant amount of fear and guilt again. Danny really didn’t want anyone else to die, but maybe Laura and the others (if that’s who was coming) could save the rest of her girls. She tuned back in to what the Dean was doing when white light engulfed her vision. It took her a moment to realize it wasn’t coming from the Dean standing over her, but rather, from herself. 

The fighting overflowed into the chamber. Danny could hear shouting and the clang of metal. She stared up at the Dean through the white light—the Dean whose eyes flickered red, then steadily began to glow themselves.

The fighting was so close but it was too late. The Dean’s hand struck out and pierced Danny’s chest, a roaring filled her ears, and the light was so bright she couldn’t see anything but white, white, white. Then a shadow moved above her and the light receded. Suddenly she could see again, though she was still glowing brighter than before. She sucked air into her chest and searched what she could see of the area. A few feet away the Dean and Carmilla were sparring at such a speed that they were nothing but blurs dancing around the room. 

Danny then saw Sameen, still intact, and threw everything she had into her chains again. They gave with relative ease and she toppled off the edge of the altar. Now she could see the rest of the fighting: Summer Society, Zeta’s, Laura, Perry and Laf were slowly outnumbering the vampires.

They were winning. 

“Sameen! Sameen!” She pulled at the girl’s shoulders. It was like a wave passing over the other girl’s face. Sameen shook herself and stared at Danny.

“What is going on? Why are you glowing? Where…”

“It doesn’t matter, grab Amber and everyone in this circle and get them out. The Society is here, it’s going to be fine.” Sameen nodded. “Okay? Okay.” 

But when Sameen moved to Amber and shook her shoulders the same way Danny had done to her, Amber didn’t come back. “Danny! She won’t wake up!” 

Danny reached out and grabbed Amber, who shuddered awake and blinked dazedly at them. 

“It’s me,” she looked at Sameen. “I can wake them up.” Danny shook each of the other girls by their shoulder and told them to follow Sameen. She watched as Sameen, Amber, and Elsie formed a protective circle around Betty and Natalie as they lead them towards the exit, then she turned in search of Carmilla. 

The Dean and Carmilla were still battling it out. Danny knew Carmilla had saved her. She had to help, all rivalries aside. She sprinted over to where they were fighting, and as she moved towards them she had the brief thought that they were slowing down. But no, they weren’t getting less blurred because of their speed, it was because of Danny’s speed. She was getting faster. 

When she reached them, Carmilla’s sword hand was pinned to the wall and the Dean had her nails dug into her throat, there was some sort of gloating happening as well, but Danny wasn’t really paying that any mind. She slammed into the Dean with all her newly acquired speed and strength and it sent them shooting across the room. The Dean’s look of surprise was, very briefly, very satisfying. 

Then they hit the wall hard enough that the stone crumbled and splintered around them. The Dean recovered first and grabbed Danny’s hair to slam her face into the floor, but Carmilla had already reached them. She lashed out with the sword, taking the dean’s hand and freeing Danny in the process. 

The Dean shrieked, her eyes still blazing red. With all of the Dean’s focus on Carmilla, Danny moved behind her and caught her in a chokehold. Carmilla stabbed the Dean up through the sternum as Danny yanked with all of her godly strength backwards. The Dean’s head ripped off with a sickening wet sound and her whole body crumbled to ash around them. 

Danny and Carmilla stood panting and staring at the black soot that remained. It coated them entirely. Then Danny looked up and smiled. Even more amazing, Carmilla smiled back. 

“Thanks for the save.” Danny motioned to her blood soaked chest where the Dean had driven her claws, so close to getting her heart. 

“Yeah, you didn’t do so bad yourself, Xena.” 

The rest of the team finally made it over to them, everyone a little worse for the wear but looking victorious. 

Danny glanced at Laura and all her exuberance, and could suddenly feel the exhaustion setting in. Her chest ached and she was still glowing for who knew what reason, and she really wanted a shower. She looked to her second-in-command of the Summer Society. “Everyone okay? Amber; Elsie?”

Yvonne nodded. “Yup. They’re all out with the civilians. No one getting sacrificed today!” She then high-fived Kirsch, who was looking a little shell-shocked over Will’s betrayal but still managed to give a satisfying high-five. 

“Good. Great.” She staggered against the partially destroyed wall and it was Carmilla, suddenly at her side, who steadied her. 

“Woah, okay Jolly Red, let’s get you home.” Carmilla propped her up best she could and Laura slid in on her other side.

“Are we not going to address the glowing?” LaF looked from them to Perry to the Summer Society girls and back. 

“Not now. Not unless it gets worse.” Carmilla started to walk out with Danny and Laura. 

Laura spun around a bit, “Perry grab the book off the altar--we might need it!” Perry nodded agreement and grabbed the book before she and LaF followed them out. 

It was only when they were nearly back to Laura’s dorm that Danny realized they were not in fact taking her home. “Um, guys this isn’t mine, you have to drop me off first.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “As if we’re letting you out of our sight after this. You’re a damn lantern and you nearly died. You’re staying with us.” 

Danny looked weakly at Laura who was all but beaming at them. “I have the best first aid kit on campus, you’ve seen it.” 

She had seen it and it was indeed impressive, but they had just battled Carmilla’s mother and won. She kind of expected them to want to be alone, together. 

Danny considered protesting again but by the time she worked it out she was already being seated on Laura’s bed and she had the sudden desire to never move again. She was so tired. Laura went to grab her kit from the bathroom. Danny started to drift to the left without realizing so Carmilla sat next to her to hold her up. 

“Hey, Red, focus for a little longer okay?” 

Danny meant to nod but her head lolled to Carmilla’s shoulder instead and she figured that was good enough. “Laura?” Carmilla called to her. “Maybe we can do this tomorrow?”

“What? Why…” Laura came back with her first aid kit and saw that Danny was pretty much asleep on Carmilla. “Okay, I mean, she doesn’t look…she’s going to be okay right? She looks okay, apart from the glowing and even that doesn’t look that bad, right?”

“Cupcake, calm down. She’s going to be fine. She still has her heart and she helped me take down mother in battle so she has some serious strength right now. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but I think we can deal with it tomorrow.”

Laura looked relieved. She set the kit on the floor. “Then let’s go to sleep.” They rearranged themselves on Laura’s bed with Danny between them. It wasn’t long before exhaustion took them too. 

Danny dreamt she was on fire and woke up gasping. She saw Laura and Carmilla at the desk, looking at her. Carmilla was finishing off bandaging a cut on Laura’s cheek. 

“You alright?”

Danny nodded to Laura. “Yeah I’m fine just, hot.” Really hot. She felt like she was still on fire. 

Laura moved to her and placed a cool hand on her forehead. “Yeah you have a fever. A serious fever. Carmilla when are Perry and LaF bringing the book?”

“Soon, they said.”

Laura nodded. “Okay, why don’t you take a cool shower and then we can take care of your…” Laura motioned to the wound on Danny’s chest.

Danny was aching all over and had honestly forgotten just then. “Yeah. Okay. Can I borrow something less bloodstained?”

“Oh! Of course,” Laura hopped up and searched through her drawers for something that might fit Danny. 

Danny met Carmilla’s worried gaze, which immediately dropped into something neutral. 

“Here, the shorts are sort of big on me and the tank should be, you know, fine for now.”

Danny took the clothes from Laura as she stood, slowly, to her feet. “Don’t worry about it. Anything is better than this.” 

In the bathroom she realized just how badly off she really was. Her shirt was covered in dried blood and stuck to her wounds. Peeling it off without moaning in pain was a struggle. Her arm didn’t want to lift that high as she forced it to. Everything was ripped and dirty and blood covered; she was a disaster zone. 

Eventually she managed to get in the shower. The cool water was soothing but her chest was bleeding again and she could feel that sharp aching more acutely than anywhere else. 

Once she was out she realized the shorts were, well, really short but the problem was she didn’t want to bleed on the shirt Laura gave her. She tentatively stepped out of the bathroom with the towel clutched to her chest. 

Laura and Carmilla both turned to her, weirdly in sync with one another. Danny shifted her eyes out the window. “Hey, um, I’m bleeding I don’t want to ruin your shirt so can we just patch this real quick?”

When she looked back they were both staring. Admittedly a lot of skin was on display at the moment. Carmilla recovered first. 

“Yeah, yeah come here beanstalk.” Danny sat on Carmilla’s bed. Carmilla’s face was drawn as she cleaned the blood from the deep gouges on Danny’s chest. Carmilla was quick and efficient but gentle. When she finished patching up a final cut across her forehead Danny thanked her. “Don’t mention it.”

“No really. Thank you. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.” Carmilla’s eyes flickered to the patch she had just placed on Danny’s skin.

“It was close.” Her eyes were vulnerable. Guilty. 

“You made it.” Danny touched her hand. “Stupid vampire heroics, yeah?”

Carmilla snorted. “Yeah. You really are burning up.”

The brief reprieve of the cold shower had worn off a while ago but Danny was coping. 

LaF and Perry walked in. LaF was carrying the tome the Dean had been using. “Hey, we got it. We’re here to de-glow Danny.” They paused, taking in Danny’s lack of attire. “Hey Danny.”

“I’m taking that as my cue to throw on that tank top.”

When she returned with a decidedly too small tank top she found Carmilla muttering to herself in Sumerian, the large book resting on her knees, with Perry hovering over her shoulder. 

“Well that’s almost an improvement over the towel.” LaF smirked at her from their position beside Laura on the bed. 

“Yeah, well, next time I get kidnapped I’ll bring a change of clothes.” She walked over and dropped her ruined outfit on top of her shoes by the door. Then sat next to Laura on the bed. “How’s the book looking?”

“Like no one has ever half performed this stupid ritual before.” Carmilla said, without looking up. 

“Great.” Danny’s head was killing her and she was sweating again. She rested her head in her hand. Laura put her hand to her forehead again. 

“Carmilla, we need fix this.”

“Yeah cupcake, I know. Hold on. Okay, so if this was half performed and her soul was pulled but not taken…” she trailed off.

Danny tiredly looked up and realized they were still talking. A haze settled over her. Her vision went white. She dropped to the floor. 

 

Danny stood in a clearing that the Summer Society occasionally used for training. She looked around her. It was sunny in the clearing, but there were stars overhead. Then suddenly Artemis was in front of her, flanked by hounds so large they came up to the middle of Danny's chest. 

She was not entirely sure how she knew it was Artemis but she had the sudden realization she was probably dead. 

"Not yet. Soon, though."

Danny's eyes snapped from the hounds to Artemis. Oh okay. That is a bit disconcerting. “Do I bow? I’m not really sure what’s happening.” 

“You don’t have to bow.” Her lips may have twitched into a smile but there was a significant amount of glowing and some mist so Danny really couldn’t tell. “As I am sure you know by now, you have a sliver of my soul in you. Gods never really die, but we want pieces of us to live on, and so, sometimes this happens.”  
Danny nodded, as if she actually understood how any of this made sense at all. 

“Except this sliver should have remained dormant. Subtly influencing you as it has been your whole life. Given what happened with the Dean, events with which I couldn’t interfere, it has activated this sliver and you are…overdosing, for lack of a better word. It is too much for your human body to handle and you’re dying.”

Danny got that part. “Right, so, what is happening right now? I’m just almost dead and waiting here to die?” Danny was a fighter so just waiting for death didn’t sit well with her. 

“I couldn’t interfere with the Dean, but this shouldn’t have happened, and I am here to offer a solution.” She looked Danny in the eyes. “You can wake up and ask Carmilla to turn you.”

Before she even finished her sentence Danny was shaking her head. “That isn’t happening. I couldn’t ask Carmilla to do that for various reasons, it’s manipulative--because if she says no I’m dead, if she says yes I’m still dead but I made her kill me, and she really isn’t that person anymore. So no. I won’t do that. Plus I don’t want to be a vampire, honestly.”

Artemis nodded. “Knowing you I figured that would be your choice. The only other option that I can offer you is to turn you into a wolf.”

Danny eyed her hounds. “A legitimate wolf or a werewolf? Because I know about the men into deer thing and I know I would be alive but I wouldn’t be me anymore and I’m not sure that’s a better option.”

“A werewolf, Danny. This is all I can offer. One of my hounds will give you the bite. It will be permanent and you will not be human anymore. It will be a bit overwhelming and the first few times you shift will be painful, but you’ll live.”  
Considering Danny’s other options were dead or undead she knew her choice. She knew Artemis knew her choice. “Okay. So what do I do?”

“Kneel.”

Danny knelt in the soft grass at her feet. Artemis’ left hand hound moved forward and stood above her. 

“This will hurt. Try not to move.”

The hound opened its jaws and bit between Danny’s neck and shoulder. 

Danny did the only thing she could do.

She screamed. 

It all happened very quickly.

Danny hit the floor and Laura dropped to her knees after her calling her name. She looked frantically at Carmilla who abandoned the book to cradle Danny’s head, checking her pulse. 

“She’s hot, her pulse is way too fast.”

“She’s bleeding.” LaF pointed out with some urgency. 

“What? No, we-,” Laura trailed off. 

LaF was right, a crescent of marks arched from Danny’s shoulder down past her clavicle and up to her neck. The wounds were freely bleeding. 

Danny moaned low and quiet in her chest. The glow around her started to dim until it was barely noticeable. Then her eyes snapped open.

Carmilla startled, which was rare for her. Danny’s eyes were bright yellow and glowing as they stared, unseeing, up at her. Carmilla laid Danny’s head down and tugged Laura and LaF away. Perry followed them to Laura’s desk.

“Carmilla, what are you doing?”

“Stay behind me.” Carmilla stood in front of all of them and LaF subtly moved in front of Perry just in case. 

Laura pushed at Carmilla’s arm as Danny writhed on the floor. “What is going on? Carmilla?”  
“Danny is changing. I don’t know why and I don’t know how and I don’t know how she will react so just. Stay. Here.” 

“Changing into what? A vampire?” Perry asked from just behind LaF’s shoulder.  
Carmilla shook her head. Danny’s skin was tearing, her bones were snapping. It was happening fast and in a slight fog. In a blink a large copper wolf stood in front of the group, about as tall as Laura.

“A wolf.” 

“Holy shit.” LaF leaned forward as Perry pulled them back. 

The wolf looked frantically around the small room, practically ignoring the other occupants. She shook her head and then spun for the door, crashing through it without breaking stride. Screams preceded her as she sprinted down the halls and stairs until she made it outside. 

“Okay,” Laura began breaking a weird stillness that had overcome them. “We are going after her. Perry and LaF can make sure the dorm doesn’t dissolve into complete chaos over…that.” 

LaF and Perry nodded. “Of course. As floor Don I should be able to do that.”  
Laura practically ran out the door, dragging Carmilla behind her.

“Hey, cupcake, I’m faster than this alone. Let me just-”

Laura cut her off. “No, I’m going with you so figure it out.”

Carmilla took about half a second after looking at Laura’s scrunchy, determined face and groaned. 

“Fine! But we never speak of this again.” Without warning she threw Laura weightlessly on her back and took off after Danny’s scent. Danny had always had an earthy scent to her but now it was deeper, darker. She followed it through the vast campus woods until they came upon a clearing. 

Danny was pacing along the edges near trees marked with targets. She turned when Carmilla entered the clearing and set Laura on her feet. She moved slowly towards them.

Carmilla, still slightly on edge, moved a fraction in front of Laura. But Danny kept her head bowed. When she reached them she gently butted her head against Carmilla’s shoulder and nuzzled into Laura’s neck. 

Laura reached up and gently rested her hand on the soft fur of Danny’s head. Before anything else could happen Danny moved back and in a few moments she was kneeling on all fours, human again, wearing the same clothes she had on in Laura’s room. She looked up into their startled expressions, tears rolling down her face. The shift from her perspective was longer, more painful somehow, and she struggled for breath. 

Laura and Carmilla knelt down and when Laura reached out for her again Danny collapsed forward, sobbing into the younger girl’s neck. 

Laura stroked her hair and Carmilla placed a comforting hand at her back, murmuring softly in French. 

Eventually Danny drew away, sniffling and wiping hastily at her eyes. “Thanks. Sorry I’m just, it’s a lot. I’m okay.”

Laura looked to Carmilla then back to Danny. “We’re here for you. We’re gonna help you with this.” Carmilla nodded but Danny wasn’t looking at them. 

“Hey, Danny, I know it’s a lot. I know. But we are here for you.” 

Danny looked up at Carmilla’s use of her name. She shook her head. “I don’t want you to have to do that. I picked this. I can deal with it. I’m okay.”

“How did you pick this?” Laura asked incredulously. 

Danny explained what she recalled of her meeting with Artemis. She couldn’t remember exactly how she got to the woods, which Laura filled her in on. That’s about when they realized Danny’s new bite wound had healed into a faint silver scar. Danny still had a faint glow but you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t looking too hard. 

Laura shook her head, getting them back on track. “That’s not much of a choice; that’s no choice at all really. It doesn’t matter anyway. We want to help you.”

“Look, I really appreciate what you guys did for me. I wouldn’t be here without you. But I’m alive and I’m not dying or glowing…much.” She looked to Carmilla. “You, well, we killed your mother yesterday and you haven’t really had time to deal with anything.” She looked to Laura, “and Betty is back, you haven’t even gotten to see her yet. So don’t worry about me anymore. I’m okay.”

“Christ, Xena, we care about you. We worry and we want to be here. We want you with us. So shut up and let us. I swear…How the hell did I end up with two of the most oblivious, stubborn, people…” She trailed off, muttering.

When they recovered from the surprise of the outburst Danny and Laura looked to each other grinning. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Laura was grinning hard.

“Yeah okay.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Good. Now let’s go. It’s hot and sunny and I want a milkshake.”

They all stood. “We should invite LaF and Perry to go with us. I’m sure they’re hungry too.”

“Alright Clifford, they can meet us there.” Carmilla smirked, too pleased with herself over that nickname. Laura tried not to laugh, ultimately failing.

“Fine. But we are going to the Summer Society house after this to check on everyone and my girls are going to swarm you like the hero you are and you’ll hate it and who will be laughing then?”

“Oh look, Clifford’s got teeth.” Danny swept Carmilla up from behind in a hug as they walked. “Hey, Xena, down.” 

Laura watched them bicker and shook her head. 

This was going to be great.


End file.
